Page 48 of Ruled By The Alpha

“Ah-narah!”

“I’m okay.” She floated back toward the middle and threw her first weapon. It struck a gerlex leaping at Cheim, slowing its progress.

But only for an instant.

Then, it was scurrying forward once more, burying its fangs into Cheim while a handful of others did the same.

Frustration and fear swept through her. Her stones were useless. Her efforts still too puny.

“Go!” The Beserketh’s command reached her once more. Fainter than before. “Now! While I have so many distracted. You will not be able to get out otherwise.”

He was slowing. Weakening. The bites from the swarm draining his energy.

“No!” She refused to allow him to sacrifice himself for her.

Only there was no way for her to reach him without being attacked herself. No way for her to save them both.

A sob wound through her.

This couldn’t be their ending.

They’d barely begun to create a new future for themselves.

She’d never have the chance to give him the same pleasure he’d given her. Or feel him deep inside her. Or show him what it truly meant to be happy.

Pain ripped through her, making it hard to think. Even harder to keep herself floating properly.

Her body dropped and then ricocheted back up.

Off kilter, she slammed into the ceiling—terror stealing her breath as her shoulder brushed a gerlex.

“Ah-nara!”

She shrieked, hating the pain in Cheim’s voice, knowing she was done for—except instead of rushing her, the gerlex leaped to the side—and crashed into another of its kind, sending them both tumbling off the wall.

Seizing the moment, she pushed off and floated away before any of the other snapping creatures could recover.

Panting, she tried to stabilize herself and take stock.

The behavior of the gerlex was unexpected—and unusual.

It gave her an idea.

Determined, desperate, out of options, she scanned the ceiling for an open area.

Honing in on a spot free of gerlex, she surged toward it, palms outstretched, slamming herself upward into the stone once more.

Chapter 8

The slap of her hands against the rock was little more than a fleshy thump, barely enough to reach her ears, and yet it sent the gerlex scurrying away instead of toward her.

Hope surging, she did it again.

“What are you doing?” Cheim’s angry roar echoed from below. “Get away from them and go!”

She ignored him, driving her body upward again. And again.

And each time, the gerlex grew more agitated, more confused, bumping into each other, crawling over one another, and dropping off the wall.

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